6 Creative Jobs That Pay Over $60,000 in New York City

Creative jobs often get a bad rap, pegged as emotionally fulfilling but not especially well-paying. Some people even claim that there isn’t much need for creative jobs in a data-driven world. And while some of this is true, there are still places in the U.S. where creative jobs are crucial to the economy.

One such unsurprising place is New York City, where according to nycfuture.org, the creative economy has actually outpaced more traditional sectors like finance and insurance. If you’re thinking about taking your creative skillset to the Big Apple, consider one of these creative jobs that will pay you over $60,000 per year.

If you’re working in the media, you already know this kind of job requires being on your toes, ready to react to the latest news. Even those in corporate communications tend to work in fast-paced environments. If this is your niche, you should be able to live comfortably with a median salary of over $90,000 per year.

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Art Directors – Median Pay of $91,000

Art Directors are the final and deciding say when it comes to approving visual concepts for a company. This can be in the form of print, digital, and even broadcast media. Art Directors are directly responsible for the success of an ad campaign or promotion. It’s no wonder they too earn a median salary of over $90,000 per year.

Advertising and Promotions Managers – Median Pay of $89,000

As you might expect, the main responsibility of Advertising Managers is to manage all the advertising activities for their company or client. Accordingly, Promotions Managers manage all the promotional (non-advertising) activities for their company or client. In either of these jobs, the perfect candidate will have a background in strategic marketing and marketing communications.

Producers and Directors – Median Pay of $70,000

Whether you’re directing or producing videos, you can earn a decent salary in NYC. Most people in this type of job role have less than 20 years experience under their belt. Producers and Directors should have a solid understanding of and experience with budgeting, project management, and production management.

Fabric and Apparel Patternmakers – Median Pay of $69,000

Most Fabric and Apparel Patternmakers in the U.S. don’t have more than 10 years of work experience. That being said, a salary of $69,000 a year is not too bad when you consider that you don’t necessarily need a college degree to get into this type of business. Workers in this job role typically move up to become Technical Apparel Designers.

Multimedia Artists and Animators – Median Pay of $61,000

Quite possibly the most fun job titles on this list, Multimedia Artists and Animators are tasked with creating visually captivating cartoons, motion pictures, and other entertaining digital media. Most of the work done by people in this job role is done solo, so workers should be comfortable with working alone. A Bachelor’s Degree is usually required for this type of job.

Methodology

PayScale created this report based on top-paying titles in a specific region. These lists are filtered by relative commonness to focus on jobs that are not only well-paying, but also unique to the region. This was done to remove obviously high-paying jobs that are found everywhere (e.g. general doctors, lawyers, etc.). Median pay is the national median (50th Percentile) annual total cash compensation.

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